Your Google Search results could soon look quite different in South Africa thanks to major proposed changes by the Competition Commission. The new proposal would force Google to make some radical changes locally, including having to make it much clearer to South African users which search results are paid for and even possibly ending its status as the default search engine on smartphones sold in the country.
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The Competition Commission has published research called its “online platforms market inquiry”, which could have implications for many businesses in the online ecosystem, not just Google. But Google was an obvious target for the commission due to its size and influence.
“The inquiry has provisionally found that Google Search plays an important role in directing consumers to the different platforms, and in this way shapes platform competition,” the commission said in a statement. “The prevalence of paid search at the top of the search results page without adequate identifiers as advertising raises platform customer acquisition costs and favours large, often global platforms. Preferential placement of their own specialist search units also distorts competition in Google’s favour.”
“The inquiry is also exploring whether the default position of Google Search on mobile devices should end in South Africa,” it added.
These proposed changes would take direct aim and the main business models of both Google Search and Android. It could fundamentally change Google’s keyword-based advertising business in the country, with advertisers bidding on keywords in order to be displayed higher in search results. The inquiry has also recommended that Google “allows competitors to compete for prominence in a search by having their own specialist units and with no guaranteed positions for Google specialist units”.
“The purpose of the inquiry has been to identify market features that have adverse effects on competition among platforms, between businesses using these platforms, and the participation of SMEs and historically disadvantaged persons (HDPs) as both platforms and business users.”
